Binding to SubObjects

You can use a wide variety of custom objects as data sources for RadGrid. The only requirement is that the custom objects must implement the ITypedList, IEnumerable, or ICustomTypeDescriptor interface. RadGrid can bind to subobjects by the intuitive and simple dot(.) syntax (specified through the DataField property of declaratively bound columns). This dot syntax is shown in the following example.

You may need to set the RetrieveNullAsDBNull property to true on the MasterTableView in order avoid binding problems.

ASP.NET

<telerik:GridBoundColumn DataField="Inner1.TestProp" HeaderText="Inner1.TestProp">
</telerik:GridBoundColumn><telerik:GridBoundColumn DataField="Inner1.Inner2.TestProp"
  HeaderText="Inner1.Inner2.TestProp"></telerik:GridBoundColumn><telerik:GridBoundColumn
    DataField="Inner1.Inner2.Inner1.TestProp" HeaderText="Inner1.Inner2.Inner1.TestProp"></telerik:GridBoundColumn>

C#

protected void RadGrid1_NeedDataSource(object source, Telerik.Web.UI.GridNeedDataSourceEventArgs e)
{
    ArrayList list = new ArrayList();
    list.Add(new MyObj("1"));
    list.Add(new MyObj("2"));
    list.Add(new MyObj("3"));
    list.Add(new MyObj("4"));
    list.Add(new MyObj("1"));
    RadGrid1.DataSource = list;
}
public class MyObj
{
    public string _innerText = "";
    public MyObj()
    {
    }
    public MyObj(string text)
    {
        _innerText = text;
    }
    public MyObj Inner1
    {
        get
        {
            return new MyObj(this._innerText + "Inner1");
        }
    }
    public MyObj Inner2
    {
        get
        {
            return new MyObj(this._innerText + "Inner2");
        }
    }
    public string TestProp
    {
        get
        {
            return this._innerText;
        }
    }
}

VB

Private Sub RadGrid1_NeedDataSource(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As WebControls.GridNeedDataSourceEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.NeedDataSource
    Dim list As New ArrayList
    list.Add(New MyObj("1"))
    list.Add(New MyObj("2"))
    list.Add(New MyObj("3"))
    list.Add(New MyObj("4"))
    list.Add(New MyObj("1"))
    Me.RadGrid1.DataSource = CType(list, IEnumerable)
End Sub
Public Class MyObj
    Public innerText As String = ""
    Public Sub New()
    End Sub
    Public Sub New(ByVal text As String)
        Me.innerText = text
    End Sub
    Public ReadOnly Property Inner1() As MyObj
        Get
            Return New MyObj(Me.innerText + "Inner1")
        End Get
    End Property
    Public ReadOnly Property Inner2() As MyObj
        Get
            Return New MyObj(Me.innerText + "Inner2")
        End Get
    End Property
    Public ReadOnly Property TestProp() As String
        Get
            Return Me.innerText
        End Get
    End Property
End Class

For a live example that illustrates these features, see Various data sources.